Kanon Nakagawa
Character Overview Kanon Nakagawa (中川 かのん Nakagawa Kanon) is a popular idol, as well as the third capture target in the series. She is also the host for the second revealed goddess, Apollo. Personality Kanon is a good natured, polite and very cheerful person. She becomes fixated on Keima when she learns that he has no idea who she is (to the point of attacking him viciously with two stun guns). She has a very low self-esteem and her idol status is the only thing that provides her comfort. Being ignored by people disturbs her, evoking memories of the times when she was ignored and easily forgotten by people around her causing her to suffer from a slight histrionic personality disorder as a result of people ignoring or unaware about her in the past and seeks attention from people and wants them to acknowledge her existence, hence her reason for becoming an idol. Consequently, she is shown to be easily depressed by even the smallest troubles. Kanon's well-mannered and polite personality causes her to be well-liked by her staff and those around her, but she has some elements of fragility and obsessive-compulsiveness. For example, when Keima first agrees to let her email him, she almost immediately sends him an incredibly long email consisting entirely of the words "thank you" (yoroshiku) over and over, afterwards contacting him over virtually everything in her life that disturbs her. Additionally, when Keima failed to recognize her, she went so far as to appropriate stage equipment without her manager's permission and throw him private concerts on the school roof after school. Kanon also has a tendency to talk to herself to deal with her current problems and whatever issues she may face in the future. Keima eventually calls out Kanon's need to be recognized by other individuals and convinces her that her own talent is enough, and that she can "shine" on her own. Later, it is revealed that the goddess Apollo is residing within her, and as a result she remembers her experience with Keima. Because of this, she stares at Keima all the time and eventually confesses to him in front of a large amount of students. Appearance Kanon has pink hair, and being a superstar idol, Kanon probably has the most number of changes in her clothing in the series, from casual to flamboyant. She is often (if not always) seen wearing a big, yellow ribbon. Most of the time, she seems to wear a blue (sometimes brown) coat over her stage clothes and a hat to prevent being recognized easily by the public. Kanon also wears large, frame-less spectacles at school. In the anime, Kanon's school uniform is different from other school girls as she wears a short pink tie with a red jewel in place of a red ribbon. Abilities Kanon, being a singer, has a fantastic singing voice that is able to attract fans of all age groups. She is also extremely good at utilizing her stun guns, as she has been seen using it to fix electronic machinery and even take down an entire tree. Her academic skills seem to be proficient enough so that she can continue her school life by tests only. Background Kanon is one of the few characters with a significantly (or at least somewhat) explored background. Before she became a solo idol, she was part of a trio called Citron. Unfortunately, Kanon herself became more popular than Citron's leader, Lime, and so the group broke up, leaving Kanon with a certain amount of fear over her ability to perform in front of a large amount of people by herself. Additionally, it is revealed that her main motivation for becoming an idol was because she was socially invisible at school, possibly due to her meek personality and plain appearance. People would forget that she was present for any number of events and attempt to laugh it off. Consequently, she became an idol to be noticed (or more accurately, not to be forgotten) by the people around her. Character History Idol Arc During Kanon's initial appearance, Elsie was elated to discover that Kanon not only attended Maijima High, but was in the same class as herself and Keima. Kanon encountered Keima during lunchtime and was astonished to discover that he had no idea who she was, thereafter going to astonishing efforts to turn him into her fan. Keima initially rebuffed her efforts, going so far as to fall asleep during her performances, an action motivated at least partially by his resentment of Kanon's attacking him with stun guns (and possibly wiping the save data from his PFP), but eventually allows Kanon to email him. Over some time, during which Kanon repeatedly contacts Keima regarding any minor depression she experiences, Kanon comes to depend emotionally on Keima, culminating in her first debut solo performance before a crowd of 10,000 people. The escaped spirit attempts to destroy her sense of self confidence, but Keima restores it and later attends Kanon's concert. Hunting Break Arc 7 Kanon later appears again when Keima is attempting to tutor the members of the 2-B Pencils so that they can convince Kodama to allot them a clubroom. Keima allowed time for her and she asked him if they had met before, but Elsie was able to shoddily cover up any knowledge of the conquest. Nevertheless, it is shown that she, in fact, still seems to be attracted to him. When Elsie mentioned the word "kiss", Kanon, as well as Ayumi and Chihiro were shown to suddenly become very embarrassed, almost going into shock, hinting that they have not completely forgotten about what happened with Keima. Ayumi, Chihiro and Kanon all managed to get 100% after Keima's tutoring, while Elsie only got 45%. Old Conquest Arc It is seen that Kanon still loves Keima. It is revealed that this is because she has the Goddess Apollo within her heart, causing her to regain memory of the conquest. Despite remembering the week she spent with Keima, she makes no attempt to contact him, thinking that he has forgotten about what happened. Apollo nevertheless teases her for cherishing the time she spent with Keima, but when her life is threatened by Fiore of Vintage (who attempts to snipe her at her apartment and then stalks her at school), she confesses to Keima and asks for his help in front of a large portion of the school. Apollo then takes over her body and attempts to escape to prevent Keima (who she only recognizes as an ordinary human) from becoming involved, whereupon Fiore stabs her with a cursed Vintage knife, with an enchantment imitating that of an assassination spell used by Old Hell, and sends her into a coma, leaving her (and Kanon) to die within a matter of days, estimated as 7 days by Haqua. At that moment, Kanon turned into a coma-like state. Keima then secured comatose Kanon in the upper floor of his house and searched for the other Goddesses to save her life. Keima managed to find Vulcan, the oldest of the sisters and brought her to his room along with Diana and attempted to remove the dagger one more time. Vulcan and Diana successfully removed the dagger, however Apollo transformed her body into a water-like state to prevent her death from the cursed dagger. Kanon was still in the coma, though there wasn't any danger to her life anymore. Although she was still comatose due to Apollo's power "sinking," Keima, still upset, decides to search for more goddesses to heal her completely. It is revealed that Kanon was still within her consciousness with Apollo and she was praying with Apollo for Keima's sake. Mai High Festival Arc At the night of the festival, a Vintage figure sneaks into the Katsuragi household and directly to Kanon's room. Kanon is successfully captured and is with Lune. However, Kanon was finally awakened due to the efforts of the other five goddesses and was freed from Vintage. Later, as Chihiro sang in the festival, Kanon sang too, surprising Chihiro and the entire school. Kanon then bowed to Chihiro, thanking her and asked if she can sing with Chihiro together despite knowing that Chihiro wanted a competition but she still wants to sing with her. Chihiro gladly agreed and Kanon and her continued to sing and soon, Kanon sprout wings on her back. Heart of Jupiter Arc A blimp with Kanon's voice was shown to pass by Maijima High School as Kanon advertised her own "choco mog". She is currently at work and only went one time to the Astrology Club by the will of Apollo. By night time, Kanon was shocked to see that Keima was in her room. Apollo then told her that Keima was won when she got first place in the "Katsuragi Lottery competition". Keima then woke up and upon looking around, he quickly cried, demanding to play games. Kanon asked Keima is he is alright as Keima asked who she was. Apollo then said that Keima had amnesia and asked Kanon to nurse him. Keima then took up a game and asked what is it Keima said that he wants to play and asked what kind of console she used. Kanon took out her own PFP and Keima was intrigued by it and asked where she bought it. Kanon then bought him to the game store and Keima was intrigued by it. Kanon asked if Keima recalls anything as Keima replied about the game as Kanon asked if Keima really forgot about her. Keima then said that he wants to play the game but did not have enough money as Kanon decided to buy it for him. However, someone recognized Kanon's disguise and Kanon quickly grabbed Keima away and wondered what she should do to help Keima. Kanon eventually led Keima to the school but Keima was too immersed in his game. When Kanon angrily told off Keima, the latter had to go to the toilet as Kanon hold the PFP. Kanon then wondered what she should do since she's like a pre-school teacher. Kanon's phone then rang but Keima has already finished his toilet break and wanted his game back. Kanon then turned away and said that he cannot have the games back unless he remembered her, or she and he will just have to go on a date. Kanon then mentioned about the Mai-High Festival and the goddesses but Keima could not recall any of that as Keima told Kanon that he's body also feels rather odd as Kanon quits the topic. Kanon then directed Keima to the rooftop. On the rooftop, Kanon said that this is the place that she first met Keima and that she wanted to say her thanks to Keima here. Kanon then sang a song for Keima and Keima then said that he remembered...that her song appeared in a game. Keima then said that the game was rather awful but the music is good and told Kanon that she should go to a better company for games next time as Kanon was delighted to hear that Keima liked her song. Keima then told Kanon that he just cannot recall Kanon as Kanon came and told Keima that she will help him. However, Yui came up much to Kanon's shock and took Keima away, telling Kanon that the lottery was based on an three hour switch, meaning that it is now her turn to take Keima as Kanon dejectedly sat on the bench while Apollo told Kanon that she should have been more aggressive. Relationships Keima Katsuragi Initially Kanon was entirely fixated on turning Keima into her fan, being disturbed by the fact that he, who was in her own class, had no idea who she was. However her obsession to make Keima acknowledge her almost borderlines to yandere tendencies which is the same time that Keima learns that she has a spirit. Soon, she came to depend upon Keima for emotional security and emailed him repeatedly over the course of a week to seek consolation over a number of problems (ranging from serious to completely frivolous), in addition to taking time outs of her increasingly busy schedule to simply see him. After Keima restored her sense of self-confidence, she kissed him and forgot about what had happened, but was shown later to still react to his presence, blushing and staring at him when he was occupied. After the Goddess Apollo entered her heart, she regained all memories of her experience with Keima, but refrained from contacting him, believing that he had forgotten what had happened and that she would be rejected anyway. She even denies liking Keima, but this is clearly disproved by her behavior. However, an extremely tangible threat to her life caused her to confess to him and ask for his help (instead of, say, her manager or the police, though she does initially tried to contact her manager). It is safe to assume she is in love with him. There was danger to her life after being stabbed, but since Apollo applied a Hydration spell, Kanon's body submerged into a alternating body called breakwater when she was stabbed, putting her in a coma-like state. However when Keima succeeded in the search of the Goddesses, she was saved by Apollo's sisters and is back to normal. Okada Okada is Kanon's manager. They appear to have a fairly good relationship, although is, of course, extremely professional. Okada frequently schedules Kanon for events and is shown to be very efficient and occasionally harsh, not entirely unlike Keima (as Elsie notes during her stunt posing as Kanon); Kanon is shown to agree with virtually everything she schedules. Kitaro Kintarō is her pet turtle for three years. This fact is apparently important to any real fan of Kanon. Apollo She and Apollo have an interesting dynamic. The arrival of Apollo has changed her life significantly, although they seem to get along fairly well; it is possible that Kanon is so willing to accept Apollo in part because she thinks that Apollo might be a fatigue-induced hallucination, not an actual being inside her. Nevertheless, she attempts to keep Apollo's existence hidden from the world (probably motivated by the likelihood that other people would think she is insane). She intelligently takes advice from Apollo regarding such issues as the "Goddesses," which she knows nothing about (although Apollo is frankly not much better). Apollo, during her brief appearance, teased her about liking Keima and other things related to him. Others She has met the 2-B Pencils, having not only studied with them but also made a sort of challenge/promise with Chihiro to both play at the Mai-high Fest. Trivia * Her name comes from Ise-Nakagawa Station (伊勢中川駅, Ise-Nakagawa-eki). * She likes songs, poems and lessons. * She dislikes press interviews, parties and people who don't show interest in her. * She describes her recent problems as worries about whether she will be able to graduate from high school. * She, along with Hinoki, are the only girls among the conquest characters that have been seen wearing glasses. * She apparently lives on her own and has an agreement which her manager made with her parents that she can do so as long as her academic performance doesn't falter. Nevertheless, she only appears at Maijima High to take examinations, though she does somewhat well on. * Kanon's desktop computer, seen in episode 6, with a desktop wallpaper and her operating system, is a parody of Microsoft Windows 7 except the icons, taskbar, sidebar, and start buttons are different. * An omake reveals that ever since her debut solo performance (the end of her arc), she trips whenever she sings the word "kiss." In a probably unrelated coincidence, she also trips in front of the Chief Editor. This may be because the CE wears a katsura, or wig. It is unknown whether these habits persist after Apollo has awakened. * Her surname differs between the magazine release and the tankobon, having mysteriously changed from "Nishihara" to "Nakagawa." The author himself notes that he made a mistake there. * Kanon is afraid of water and unable to swim. * Kanon's skill with the stun gun apparently includes the ability to fix broken electrical equipment. * Her name, Kanon, may be a reference to the musical term "Canon," a type of melody that builds upon itself by adding iterations of the original melody after certain intervals of time. It may also be a reference to Canon, a Japanese company that produces cameras; Canon, a sociological term referring to an accepted principle or rule; numerous real life Japanese musical performers named Kanon; Kanon, the Turkish musical instrument; Kanon, a type of liturgical hymn; Kanon, a type of men's cologne; Kanon, a 1999 Visual Novel; or Cannon, an archaic type of long range battery weapon (which may be referenced in one of the songs she sings in the anime). * On Wakaki's blog a poll was placed to vote for their favorite feminine character. Kanon ended up in third place. * Kanon has released an album, Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai Insert Song Album - Birth on March 3rd, at the same day as Kanon's birthday. The song album includes 10 tracks in total, including the insert songs sung by Kanon in the first season of the anime. * Her first solo concert was held on December 24th (This is anime only; this is due to the fact that this arc in the anime was aired during the Christmas season). * A short fandom of her name is "K". * She is the second Goddess host to appear in the series. * In the anime, she is a seiyū for one of the heroines in one of the galge Keima has played, seen when she is doing a recording session for the character. ** In the manga, she has a game based on her called "Crescent Stage". * She was the third capture of Keima in the series. * According to Okada in the Omake, whenever Kanon changes some part of herself, her popularity increases. (e.g., When Kanon was in Citron, she wore glasses and she was just a side member, but when she took her glasses off, her popularity was above the other Citron members.) * The cause of the crevice in Kanon's heart was her doubt in her popularity and fear that people would not acknowledge her existence. * In the anime, after Kanon sang Love Call, she briefly quotes that the performance was for a certain someone, though it is not specified who. (It might be Keima though.) * Kanon and Jun are the only two conquest girls who Keima conquered that tried making contact with Keima get his attention before Keima tried to make contact. * Her backstory is similar to that of American singer Beyonce Knowles. Both were members of singing groups before moving on to successful solo careers. Quotes * (To herself) "I'm not an idol, I'm trash! Trash! Trash!...." (Season 1 Episode 5; Chapter 7, p.16) * (To Keima) "I'll defeat you! I'll defeat you!" ''(Chapter 7, p.16) * ''(To Keima) "I can't fix my bed hair..." (Season 1 Episode 6; Chapter 9, p.13) Category:Maijima Category:Performance Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Goddess hosts Category:Featured Articles